Analysis of electrodes specifically and of materials in general is of grat importance. The development and improvement of materials, such as catalytic electrodes, relies upon the ability to analyze and understand the material and its function. Structure-activity relationships have been the basis for predictive ability in tailor-making nanomaterials with desirable reactive properties for some time. However, such an approach as disadvantages. A more robust approach to analysis would open new avenues of development.
Existing techniques for analysis provide some information regarding atomic and molecular level interactions of materials. For example, prior work has coupled a scanning flow cell (SFC) to an Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS), enabling in situ measurements of the dissolution of polycrystalline metal electrodes. By utilizing this method it was possible to establish relationships between potential-dependent oxide formation in various environments Despite the breadth of these experiments, knowledge of potential-induced surface stability at atomic-/molecular-levels still remains incomplete. Two key fundamental and technical barriers for this are that: (i) current in-situ ICP-MS methodologies are not sensitive enough to probe the stability of various defects such as ad-islands and step edges that are inherently present on single crystal surfaces and (ii) there is no experimental strategy capable of simultaneously monitoring stability-reactivity relationships at well-defined surfaces and at well-established diffusion/kinetic conditions. The development of such a methodology would offer the ability to embrace a science-based strategy capable of exploring, at atomic-/molecular-levels, the role of covalent and non-covalent interactions in metal dissolution/activity rates.